Correction

Let's rewind time a little.

Back when Ji Ruo and the others were being chased by the swarm of Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders, Ji Ruo kept using [Absolute Sense of Direction] to search for the 'safe' direction.

At that time, the Director of the Education Bureau was actually searching in that same direction as well.

Ji Ruo believed that after repeatedly correcting with [Absolute Sense of Direction] and averaging the results, he could perfectly define the path to survival.

But in reality, [Absolute Sense of Direction] currently only had a 5% correction ratio.

If all directions were divided into 360°, then each correction Ji Ruo made only shifted things by 18°.

Even if Ji Ruo corrected multiple times and took the average, he could at best narrow the error to within 180°. Strictly speaking, Ji Ruo and the others were actually heading in the opposite direction of the true path to survival.

Ji Ruo, however, was completely unaware of this. And because they really did encounter a Patrol Examiner, he felt that his choice of direction was very accurate.

By the time the Director of the Education Bureau searched the Nine-Eyed Demon Spider nest, a long time had already passed.

He searched through the nest and quickly made a discovery.

Near the entrance lay over a dozen corpses of Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders, all torn apart, their deaths gruesome.

But it was obvious that these Nine-Eyed Demon Spiders had been killed by humans.

With just one glance, the Director recognized that these spiders had died under some kind of blade technique.

"Spider Queen, Six-Whiskered Catfish."

After leaving the nest, the Director frowned as he examined the two demon beasts lying dead before him.

The Six-Whiskered Catfish had been poisoned, while the Spider Queen had been burned to death.

Additionally, the Director noticed five shallow human-shaped depressions at the edge of the nearby swamp. If he had arrived a little later, these shallow pits would have disappeared.

He closed his eyes, concentrated, and carefully sensed. After a moment, the Director frowned.

"The trail is broken again."

He pondered with a furrowed brow. Powerful martial artists all possessed intuition, but this intuition wasn't specifically for tracking people.

The Director pinched a piece of torn school uniform fabric he had found on the road earlier, sensing it intently, pushing his martial intuition to its limit.

And then, a vague sensation actually stirred in his heart!

The Director began to move, but if his target was Ji Ruo and the others, then his direction was wrong.

"Damn toads! They killed the Earth-Turning Dragon themselves, so why are they chasing me?"

A dirty white cat carefully threaded through the forest, grinding its teeth.

"That Earth-Turning Dragon was huge—they couldn't finish it all anyway. Couldn't I have a couple bites? I didn't even eat much, damn it!"

It carefully distinguished the scents drifting through the air. As it moved, an earth-yellow pearl atop its head flickered with a faint glow.

With each step, it could cover ten or even dozens of meters, and every time, the direction was different.

But strangely, no matter which direction it advanced, the overall heading always moved forward.

It was as if the path ahead was constantly correcting itself beneath its paws.

"The scent of demon beasts... this smell, it seems like Trolls? Perfect."

The white cat's gaze turned cold.

"Eating these Trolls should buy me a bit more time to maneuver."

Soon, it arrived at the Trolls' dwelling.

Trolls were humanoid demon beasts, ugly in appearance, immensely strong, and extremely low in intelligence.

Demon beasts generally had low intelligence, by the way.

Also, they lived in groups.

Right now, the Trolls seemed to be in the middle of a carnival. The white cat was about to make its move when it suddenly caught a strange, unfamiliar scent of blood in the air.

It wasn't that the blood smell was odd, but rather that the white cat found it unfamiliar.

It observed carefully and finally spotted the dying 'food' surrounded by the reveling Trolls.

The white cat froze. "A human?"

It frowned in thought. Though it had little contact with humans, compared to the danger it currently faced, dealing with humans seemed much safer.

It had never interacted with humans before, but it had heard that humans possessed a space-traveling ability that could leave the secret realm.

The white cat already had the Moonlight Mirror, but it was severely injured and in terrible condition, no longer strong enough to activate the mirror.

Though cooperating with humans was like scheming with a tiger for its skin, it had no choice now. It couldn't delay much longer.

Besides, that human was on the verge of death. It was said that humans remembered kindness. Saving a life in exchange for a path to survival—shouldn't that be a fair deal?

It decided to take a gamble.

The white cat thought it over, weighing the pros and cons, and finally gritted its teeth. Its innate ability activated, pulling all the reveling Trolls into an illusion.

Hundreds of Trolls instantly froze in place.

"Huff, huff."

The White Cat gasped heavily.

Troll flesh was sour and astringent; it wouldn't eat it unless necessary.

After panting for a while, the White Cat walked slowly into the troll tribe.

That human was suspended by the trolls on a long pole in the center of the tribe. One leg and one arm were missing, and even his chest had a large hole torn open, with a heart faintly visible beating slowly within—one lung was also gone.

The White Cat frowned. This human was nearly beyond saving.

If not for the human's robust constitution as a so-called martial artist, he would have died long ago from such severe injuries.

"Human."

The White Cat called out softly. To achieve its goal, it even reluctantly used its meager demonic power to barely sustain the male human's life.

The dying Patrol Examiner forced his eyes open.

"Speaking human words... a demon..."

"I want to make a deal with you," the White Cat said slowly.

"We martial artists... have nothing to say... to you demons," the Patrol Examiner said, exceptionally weak. He could still speak now only because the White Cat's demonic power was keeping him alive.

The White Cat frowned but didn't give up: "Why not hear my terms first?

Human, your condition is terrible right now, sustained entirely by my demonic power. I can save you and get you out of here. In exchange, I hope you'll take me with you when you leave Ten Thousand Beast Mountain."

The Patrol Examiner was stunned. In his severely injured state, he could no longer think clearly.

"Where... do you want to go?"

"Anywhere but Ten Thousand Beast Mountain," the White Cat said. "I know you humans have ways to leave the secret realm. I just want to get out of here."

"I... will not... deal with a demon... give up that hope."

The White Cat frowned again.

It walked slowly up to the Patrol Examiner and looked up: "Right now, I'm using my demonic power to keep you alive. If you return in time, you humans should have means to heal your injuries. Don't you want to live?"

"I would rather die... than deal... with a demon."

The White Cat said, "I just want to leave Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, not go to human territory!"

"Demons... cannot be trusted."

"You!"

The White Cat was furious. It had never lied before!

"Are you just going to die here? Be devoured by these ugly trolls?"

The Patrol Examiner lifted his head slightly. Through his blurring vision, he saw the hundred or so trolls standing frozen in strange poses, and his heart jolted.

This was a Great Demon!

"Judging by your appearance, you must be young among humans. Isn't it a pity to die like this? You clearly have a broader future ahead. Just agree to take me away, and I can save you!"

"I..."

"Think carefully. Is there anything important you haven't finished?" the White Cat said. "Once you die, you can't do anything!"

The White Cat itself didn't want to die, which was why it sought to trade with this human.

The martial artist's mind wavered—his condition was so dire he could barely stay conscious.

"Important things..." the martial artist murmured. Finally, he remembered that there was indeed one very important thing he hadn't completed.

"I can... agree to you..."

The White Cat was overjoyed: "Really?! I'll save you right now! And I can even help you get revenge!"

As it spoke, it lightly stomped its small paw. The earthy yellow pearl above its head suddenly surged with light, and in an instant, waves of earth rolled forth, burying all the trolls at once!

"No... don't save me," the martial artist said with effort. "Help me... spread the news... that the martial examination... encountered an accident... At the foot of Ten Thousand Beast Mountain... the territory we humans control... there's geological upheaval... the area is chaotic... You don't need to carry me... use my Secret Realm Watch... to teleport... Please, I beg you... get this message out."

His consciousness grew hazier and hazier. Even with the White Cat's demonic power sustaining him, he could no longer hold on.

And the Secret Realm Watch actually had no active teleport function.

But the martial artist could no longer remember that.

The White Cat was stunned: "The foot of the mountain? I never manipulated the earth veins at the foot! How could that be..."

It thought back carefully. The Earth Dragon Pearl, which could control the earth vein movements of Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, was on itself. Logically, only it could now control the mountain's earth veins.

But it truly had never manipulated the earth veins at the foot!

Though there were plenty of demonic beasts and monsters at the foot, their levels were too low, their bloodlines too mixed—useless to it.

Moreover, with its demonic power, if it went to the foot, its intense demonic aura would stand out like a bright lamp in fog. It wasn't stupid enough to waste its meager demonic power manipulating the earth veins there.

Since fleeing, it had been skirmishing at the Mountainside with the Great Demons hunting it.

Why had changes appeared at the foot too?

The White Cat couldn't figure it out. A human-like expression of confusion appeared on its feline face.

This was its first time using the Earth Dragon Pearl, and it didn't know if the changes at the foot were related to it.

The martial artist seemed not to have heard what the White Cat said.

"Too... late. One second slower, and who knows how many children will die. My life... doesn't matter."

The White Cat stared blankly at this human martial artist, its expression exceptionally complex.

"I can help you."

"Th... thank you. I'll teach you... how to use the wristband."

The White Cat moved closer, listening as the martial artist laboriously explained how to use the wristband. But because he was already on the verge of death, the method he conveyed was actually incorrect.

Then the martial artist breathed his last.

"I promise you, this news will be passed on."

The White Cat said softly. It used its meager demonic power to lift the martial artist's corpse and lay it flat on the ground.

"So there really are creatures unafraid of death. Humans... truly strange."

It muttered to itself, a trace of respect stirring in its heart. Crouching before the martial artist, it was about to activate the wristband.

But just then—

"Damned demon! What did you do to that child!"

Suddenly, an enraged roar exploded behind the White Cat.

Thank you to reader 'Hutao, Hall Master Hu' for the 500-point tip~